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Gfk MRI and Nielsen have finalised their investment in the Media Behaviour Institute (MBI), a team responsible for a US-version of IPA TouchPoints called USA TouchPoints. This investment follows a successful 'proof-of-concept' trial by the Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement (CIMM).

GfK MRI's involvement with MBI dates back to 2009, when the companies conducted a test run of smartphone diaries for USA TouchPoints.

USA TouchPoints will equip 2,000 American consumers with smartphones loaded with a special app that allows them to record their media usage at half-hour intervals throughout the day, as well as other potentially relevant information, such as where they are, who they are with, current activities and their moods when consuming media. This information, MBI hopes, will help marketers better understand the context of media consumption with an eye to reception of brand messages.

Because respondents are drawn from a sample of recent participants in GfK MRI's annual Survey of the American Consumer, the research service can focus on purchasers of specific product categories and brands, which MBI says should yield even more precise data for marketers in these categories.

This development, in the world's largest ad market, represents a potentially massive step forward towards a consumer-centric holistic measurement approach advocated by the WFA's Media Committee for many years - as outlined in the WFA's Blueprint: http://www.wfablueprint.org/home.php